


Momarie and the adventures of parenting

by HoneyRocket



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Also hey it’s implied that, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, I am starved of mom Marie content, Marie holding up adopting papers: that child is YOU, Marie: I’m having a child, Marie’s a mom!!, Sick fic chapter, Tags will be added, anyways actual tags now, four: :D!!, four: :O, four’s family was abusive, four’s mom to be exact, here’s ur warning, so if ur sensitive to, that stuff, this is me making my own content of it, this whole oneshot collection is basically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:13:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28727901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyRocket/pseuds/HoneyRocket
Summary: What does one do when they ask a kid to help them find their kidnapped cousin, only to eventually learn that said kid ran away from a terrible home life? You start treating her as your daughter of course!Aka - I’m disappointed to see zero mom Marie with agent 4 content on ao3 so I’m here to supplyMain people’s ages here btw:Agent 4: 14Marie: 19Callie: 20Agent 8: 15Agent 3: 16Also READ THE LAST FEW TAGS I put a warning for why this is rated mature there
Relationships: Agent 12 - Relationship, Agent 96, Platonic agent 32, agent 4/agent 3/agent 8 (eventually), callie/dedf1sh (background), pearlina (background)
Comments: 33
Kudos: 52





	1. Night Terrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agent 4 has a bad dream while staying at the squid sister’s place

With the terrible storm outside it was impossible for agent 4 to walk home from Marie’s apartment.

The younger girl’s own apartment was very very far from the Squid Sister’s place, and the cuttlefish was fairly certain that she wouldn’t make it back with just an umbrella.

So a simple visit had turned into a sleepover. Which, Marie was fine with. Four had slept over a few times before when she was too tired to walk back home, so Callie’s room or the couch was pretty much always ready for her (it depended on if Callie was busy for the night or not, and the older cousin in question was currently busy out of town on a commercial shoot). Both agent 4 and Marie were nightowls, so by 11 am instead of being ready to hit the hay, the two were engaged in an intense uno battle. Marie glanced at her cards. She had a blue 5 and a red +2. The last card played was a blue 1. If she had enough luck she could win this. The cuttlefish placed down her blue 5, smirking at the girl across the table. 

“Uno”

Agent 4 seemed to glance down at her cards nervously. Marie recalled her having to draw to get the previously placed blue, so if luck was in her favor she’d draw again and get a red 5 before another blue.

The yellow inkling nervously grabbed a card off the top of the deck, and her eyes lit up. Marie’s confident appearance wavered. 

“Well..” she murmured. “I guess I could do.. THIS!” And with that agent 4 slammed down a blue skip card, yelling “UNO!!” before placing down a wildcard on top of it. Marie’s eyes widened as the squid got up and began chanting “I win! I win!” In excitement. An idea formed in her head as she began forming the cards into a stack to slip back into the box. “Oh you wanna boast huh-“ As Marie got up from her spot on the floor, Four’s eyes widened and she grinned, quickly switching to a mock expression of fear. “Shi-“

“Language!” And with that the chase began, Agent 4 giggling as they ran around the apartment. You don’t really realize how small the area you’re in is until you end up in a game of tag there. They made it work though, Four having gotten a lot more agile because of her agent work, able to jump over the kitchen chairs and slide around the corners just in time. Eventually Marie cornered her on the couch, picking her up and spinning her around, causing more giggles to leave the squid. “Ok ok you win!! You win!”

“Anddd?”

“And you’re the uno champion still! Now put me down!!”

Satisfied, Marie set the kid down, unable to keep in a few giggles herself at the pouty look on Four’s face. “Fine. It was a tie?”

She seemed to be ok with settling with that. “Tie!”

Her smirk returned. “Good. Now go get ready for bed, I’m gonna clean up.”

The squid groaned, flopping back onto the couch. “But I’m not tiredddd. And it’s Saturday Mo-“ she cut herself off, looking away. “-Marie.” The cuttlefish raised an eyebrow but chose not to comment. “I know and I’m not tired too, but we gotta get up early to pick up Callie tomorrow.”

“Why do I have to come?”

“Because I don’t have time to walk you home and I don’t trust you to get back yourself without getting lost.”

“I-“ She opened her mouth to object, then closed it, letting out a huff as she got up and made her way to Callie's room. “Goodnighttt” Marie called after her, smiling as she started walking towards the shelf she kept the games at. 

“Nighty night!”

Once the game was put away and Marie was sure all the dishes were in the sink, she headed into her own room, brushing her teeth in the bathroom connected, and changing into pajamas. She sent Callie a goodnight message and then got under her blankets, staring up at the ceiling for a good 20 minutes before finally drifting into unconsciousness.

“Marie?”

….

“Marie..”

…

*Tap tap tap*

“M-Marie-“

Being tapped eventually was what woke the cuttlefish up. Seeing someone standing next to her in the dark made her sit up with a jolt, sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose when she realized it was Agent 4. Glancing at her digital alarm clock on the bedside table next to her, Marie saw it was 3 am.

“Four, it’s 3 in the morning what do you need?”

Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the dark, and that’s when she noticed.

Four was shaking, her arms wrapped around herself as she let out a few sniffs. Instantly her face eased into a more concerned one as she sat up fully. “I-I’m sorry, I had a b-bad dream..” the girl let out a hiccup after saying that, looking away. Marie stared at her, weighing her options before eventually she decided to move over, patting the space she was originally sitting on. “C’mere Four.”

The agent crawled onto the spot, taking the tissues Marie handed her and cleaning up her face, the cuttlefish rubbing her back and letting her lean against her side. When four seemed to have calmed down, Marie decided to speak up. “...Wanna talk about it?”

Four bit her lip, staying silent. Marie was about to say she didn’t have to until the girl spoke.

“It was uh, just stuff about where I used to live.”

It occurred to Marie then that she really didn’t know a lot about Four’s old home. She knew the inkling had just moved to Inkopolis when she had recruited her, but that was it. The yellow squid always refused to elaborate.

“You don’t have to talk about it more if you don’t want to.”

“Thanks.” She gave another sniff, wiping her face  
With her arm. Marie bit back a sigh, there was no way they were gonna easily fall back asleep now. Grabbing the remote, she turned on the TV across from her bed, smiling at her younger friend. “You can stay if you want. Callie used to get bad nightmares and she never liked being alone after them.”

Four looked up at her. “She did?”

“Mhm. Tv always helped.” That and hugs, but I don’t know if she’s comfortable with that.

The squid looked down again, picking at her fingers. “Thanks Marie.”

Marie grabbed Four’s hand so she couldn’t do that, leaning against the pillows. “No problem.”

After a few episodes of a show she put on Marie glanced over at Four, not surprised to see she had fallen asleep. There were a few stray dried tears on her face, and the cuttlefish sighed as she turned off the TV, a surge of protectiveness washing over for her. She always cared about the agent, ever since she met her and saw the potential she had. But seeing this, in a way she couldn’t help but wonder if that was how her own mom would feel.

“Don’t be silly Marie she’s not your daughter.”

Smiling at the thought, the cuttlefish pulled the blanket more over Four, before turning the other way and closing her eyes, mumbling a goodnight before once again drifting off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I couldn’t resist starting with angst- next oneshot is fluffier I promise


	2. Mr. Wiggles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after meeting agent 8 and seeing how cool her plushie is, Callie and Marie surprise Four with a jellyfish plushie of her own

The clouds may have blocked the sunlight in inkopolis, making for a rather dreary day, but that was no problem for the SquidBeak Splatoon spending the day in octo canyon. Octavio grumbled to himself in his snow globe, the others paying him no attention as Off the Hook arrived with agent 8. They planned to discuss some things regarding the deep sea metro, as well as let Agent 4 get to know the new octoling agent better.

“Mom”

Marie jumped as 4 appeared by her side, realizing it was just her and easing her grip on her umbrella. “What’s up four?”

“Where’s my notebook? I left it here yesterday and I wanna show Eight!”

The cuttlefish took a moment to think, before pointing to the roof of cuttlefish cabin. “You tend to climb a lot. Did you leave it up there again?”

“Probably!! Thank you mom.” And with that the smaller agent was running to the back to start climbing. Pearl and Marina stared at her, Marie noticing after a few seconds. “What?”

“Since when does she call you mom??” Pearl questioned. Marie felt the heat rise to her face in embarrassment. “It’s just- it’s just a thing that’s started happening lately, that’s all.” Marina smiled, glancing over at Eight. “Aw it’s nothing to be embarrassed about Marie! Eight calls us her moms!” This time pearl was blushing in embarrassment, leaning against her wife. “Rinaaaa we don’t need to tell everyone yet.” The octoling pouted, hugging the small inkling from behind. “Oh why not! I’m a very proud mom and so are you, I know you secretly are super happy about it.” Pearl huffed but didn’t say anything, Marie chuckling at their banter.

“-and this is me on an ink rail! I’m not that good at drawing motion yet.” Four explained, showing off the different drawings in her notebook. Eight watched with interest, tracing over the pencil sketches with her finger. “Whoa.. I think it looks pretty cool!” The inkling blinked, processing the words before grinning at them. “Ah, well at least you think so.” Handing the octoling her notebook, she slapped her hands onto her legs, currently sitting on the ground in criss cross position. “Ok, I showed you my drawings, now you have to show me your poems!!” Agent 8 sighed, smiling as she gave in, handing four her journal she kept down in the metro. Flipping through, she instantly noticed what seemed to be the traced drawings of a variety of stuff the poems were about. From off the hook, to random clothes brands, to even the tower from tower control. Pointing to the one of an inkling girl, she looked up at eight. “Is this your art style?” The agent shook her head, digging into her pants pockets and pulling out what Four assumed to be a bunch of pencil toppers. Eight picked out the inkling girl one and held it up. “They’re called mem cakes. I found them in the metro. Apparently they contain my memories? I ate one though and it didn’t taste good so I don’t think it’s really worth it to try again, even if it makes me remember stuff. I made poems off of what I could remember from each of them already.” Curious, Four flipped back through to the off the hook ones.

"I rule," you said, "It's in my blood.  
Don't step to me — ESPECIALLY

If you can't hang with my best bud."

The inkling glanced at the poem, then at pearl, then the poem again. She reached for the pencil tucked away in the spiral lining of her own notebook, and pulled out a sticky note sheet from her pocket. Peeling one off, she slapped it next to the traced Pearl Mem Cake and began sketching the idle who was busy in conversation with Marie and Marina. Eight watched, a confused look on her face till four was finished, handing the notebook back to eight. Next to Eight’s own doodle, on a sticky note was a scribbly doodle of pearl holding a microphone, grinning. Eight gasped, holding it up. “Oh my gosh, Four it’s amazing! Thank you!!” The agent felt the ink rush to her face. “N-No problem.” As eight began shoving the notebook back into her backpack she had brought, something poked out. Eight removed it to fully place her notebook in, revealing a blobfish plushie. Four gave it a curious look. “Where’d you get that?”

Eight paused, staring at her before realizing she was talking about the plush. “Oh! In the metro I met a guy named Iso Padre. He was very nice to me, and let me keep a few of his plushies! I named this one Station, because we arrived at a test station not long after I got him!” The octoling hugged the plushie to her chest after her explanation. Four was about to ask more about it when the two were interrupted.

“Eight we gotta head out! Stages rotate in 15 minutes!” Marina called, off the hook now standing up. Eight shoved Station into her backpack, offering her hand. “It was nice to meet you agent 4! I hope we can have another conversation soon!” Four took her hand, grinning as she nodded. “Yeah, totally!” The two waved as they headed out the grate. Once they were gone the squid picked up her stuff and moved to sit next to Marie outside the cabin. The cuttlefish set her umbrella down. “You two seemed to get along.”

“Mhm. Eight’s pretty cool. She let me draw something based off one of her cake thingies, and she had a pretty cool stuffed animal.” Marie nodded. “You know, agent 3 keeps a zapfish plushie around with her.”

Four looked up, giving Marie an unconvinced look. The cuttlefish giggled. “I’m serious! Gramps gave it to her and she hasn’t given it back since.”

4 shook her head, opening her sketchbook. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” She couldn’t imagine the great, silent, diligent agent 3 carrying around a handmade zapfish plushie just because. 

“You got any plushies agent 4?” If Marie remembered correctly, she was 14. However she didn’t really know if nowadays that was the age squid kids grew out of plushies or not. Four shook her head. “Nope, never had.” Marie stared at her. “What?”

“I was always told they were a waste of money so I stopped asking for them.” She began a new sketch in her notebook. Marie watched her for a few seconds longer in slight disbelief before leaning back and focusing on her drawing instead.

. . .

“So now they know, and it feels like it’s happening so fast.

“Well, they were bound to find out eventually Mar.”

“I know but still!”

Marie was with Callie now, at Mako Mart buying groceries, telling her about the day. Four hadn’t been calling Marie mom for long. It was a thing the girl had accidentally done one day, and after Marie said it was ok and she didn’t mind, it was the only thing she called her. While she was still getting used to the role, Callie had jumped right in when she found out she was “technically an aunt now”. It seemed she spoiled the agent more than she used to. Off the hook finding out was just a reminder, but, Marie was very happy that agent 4 thought that way of her and was that close with her by now, since she used to be so closed off when they first met, and she was determined to fulfill the role.

“Well, maybe you shou- oof, why’d we stop?” Callie asked as she bumped into the shopping cart Marie was pushing next to her. The cuttlefish was staring at a shelf full of little jellyfish plushies with fuzzy sweaters. Callie titled her head in confusion.

“Four told me she’s never had a plush toy before.”

“WHAT??” That’s- that’s like saying you grew up never having candy!”

Marie smiled, grabbing a blue one off the shelf that had a little yellow sweater with an orange on it. “Let’s surprise her.” 

“Ooo you genius!” Callie grabbed a bag of different candies off the shelf too and threw them in the cart. Marie gave her a look and Callie pouted in response. “Whaaaatt just in case!!”

When the two cuttlefish arrived back at their apartment they weren’t surprised to find agent 4 on the couch playing video games. Once the inkling finally learned how to walk from her place to theirs, she was over all the time, so much so that Marie gave her a spare key. “We’re back!” Callie announced in a singsong voice, running over to give Four a hug. “Hi Auntie, hi Mom, I beat that level I was talking about last night!”

“Nice job kid.” Marie smiled in their direction, pulling out the stuffed jellyfish from her bag and hiding it behind her back. “Me and Cal got you something while we were out.”

Pausing her video game, Four sat up so she could see over the back of the couch, Callie running to stand next to her cousin, making jazz hands as Marie revealed the stuffed toy. “Ta-daaaa!!!”

Four’s eyes widened, her hands reaching out and taking the jelly, lifting it up and looking at it. “..he’s mine?”

“Yep, all yours!! Marie said you’ve never had a plush toy before so we got you one!”

Four lifted him a little higher, the plushie’s head wobbling to the side a bit. She giggled, hugging it close to her chest with a content smile. “Thank you guys. I’m gonna call him Mr Wiggles.”

Marie, happy she seemed to like it, took a seat next to the agent, Callie doing the same on the other side of her. The younger cuttlefish pat the squid’s head. “Nice name. Mind if we watch you play?”

“Of course!! I’m gonna beat this entire section!”

That day Four had decided to stay for a sleepover, and Marie couldn’t stop smiling when she went to the couch to check on the inkling, finding her asleep under a blanket cuddling with Mr. wiggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayy told ya fluff. I’ll try and update this round Saturday if I’m not too busy with the splatfest!!


	3. Achievement unlocked: cool new aunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cuttlefish family seems to keep growing when Callie officially introduces agent 4 to her girlfriend. Said girlfriend realizes that the squidbeak neglected to really fill in Four on the discoveries from the metro.

“You have a girlfriend????” 

Callie laughed. “Yep!”

“I have another aunt and I’m just finding this out now???”

This time the cuttlefish began blushing, tugging at the collar of her jacket as she stuttered out her words. “U-Uh, Four we’re not um, married y-you know-

“But you’re gonna get married eventually right? Still counts.”

Oh boy.

A day spent at the movie theaters was supposed to be a fun chance for Callie to bond with the agent. She hadn’t expected the conversation to eventually go to this. (Her fault for suggesting they go see the new romantic comedy anyway)

Did Callie want to marry dedf1sh?

Yes. Absolutely. More than anything.

Did she want others knowing yet? Absolutely not. It was enough to think about without her younger cousin butting in her terrible romance advice, and Four seemed to take after her new mom.

“So when can I meet her?” The shorter inkling questioned, absentmindedly swinging their hands as they crossed the street, on the way to now get ice cream. “Why are you so interested in my love life?”

“Cuussss that’s my other aunt we’re referring to! And I wanna meet her!” She enthusiastically claimed. Callie gave her hand a squeeze and sighed, shaking her head. “You take this family stuff and run a mile a minute with it. I can call her and ask if she wants to hang out tomorrow.”

“YESSS!!” Four cheered, forming her free hand into a fist and pumping it into the air. “When did this happen??”

“A day or so after we met eight. Marina introduced us and we kinda just hit it off!”

Four stopped in her tracks. “You mean you’ve been keeping this from me for two moNTHS?” Callie kept moving, and four stumbled a bit to regain her previous pace as to not fall face first onto the concrete sidewalk. “I wasn’t keeping it from you Four, it’s just something she isn’t comfortable being public about yet. You’ll understand one day when you’re in love. Speaking of which… got your eyes on anyone yet?” The cuttlefish teased.

In all the time Callie knew the agent she had come to realize four was a squid who (mostly) kept her emotions written on her sleeves. So as soon as her expression changed to widened eyes and a glance that was glued to the ground, that let her know she hit the hammer on the nail.  
“T-That’s not the point! You’re changing the subject!!!” She pouted. Callie chuckled, deciding to humor her (oh but she was so gonna tell Marie later).

When the two arrived home Four instantly ran into the kitchen when she saw Marie, the other cuttlefish quickly opening her arms for one of the inkling’s signature hugs. “Mom!! Callie has a girlfriend!”

“Pfft. I know four.”

“Why am I always the last to know these things!”

“Because you immediately get into everybody’s business once you find out.” Marie stated bluntly. “Now come on and help me with the dishes.”

Callie ran to join them, hugging her cousin from behind. Marie paused to hug her back. “Hi Cal. Did you two have fun?”

“Mhm!! Is it ok if Ded comes over tomorrow so four can meet her?”

“Sure, just close your door next time if she brings her DJ equipment, you two get loud when you sing.”

Four looked up at them with practically stars in her eyes. “Callie’s girlfriend is a DJ.” She whispered. Marie playfully shoved them, laughing. “You dork almost all your friends make music.”

~~~

The next day Callie had arranged for her girlfriend to come visit. They didn’t live together yet, the other currently rooming with off the hook until she could get her own apartment. Four was eagerly awaiting Callie to get home with her, holding Mr. Wobbles the jellyfish plush in her arms ready to introduce him too. Marie was sitting on the couch scrolling through something on her phone. Eventually the door swung open, and in walked Callie.

Her hand was intertwined with an Octoling, who wore a gray and white cap with a logo on it that looked like a face. She also had a black tank top on, and gray torn jeans, her tentacles being blue tipped with purple and then red, the right tentacle being longer than the other and nearly covering her eye.

However all those details Four took in came after the fact that her skin was green.

“Four, this is Dedf1sh! Ded, this is Marie’s kid, Agent 4!”

“Well- she’s not my kid Callie she just calls me mom.”

Four blinked, staring at the rather tall octo. The question was stuck in her throat, one she didn’t know if she was supposed to ask or not. She quickly decided the latter would be the safest bet. “Uh..” Her nerves were quickly getting the better of her as the conversation starters she tried to practice had suddenly escaped her mind. Silently she lifted her jellyfish to hide her face, waving its arm. “Hi. This is Mr. Wiggles.”

Dedf1sh stared at her, then looked at Callie, who looked confused. “Aw c’mon four don’t tell me you’re shy! You were so excited to meet her!”

The agent could feel her ears slick down in embarrassment.

Dedf1sh walked up to her, then silently shook the jelly’s hand. “Hello mr wiggles. I’m dedf1sh.”

Silently Four lowered the plushie, staring at the octoling. Now that she was closer She instantly noticed that dedf1sh had light red freckles on her face.

“I like your freckles.” She murmured. Dedf1sh smiled, eyes trailing to four’s freckles that nearly completely covered her face. “I like yours too.” 

The inkling’s eyes darted towards Marie, who gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs up.

Four looked back to dedf1sh, moving mr wiggles completely away from her face and instead hugging him. “It’s nice to meet you. Uh, since I call Marie mom and, I call Callie aunt, and you’re aunt Callie’s girlfriend, can I call you aunt too..?”

Dedf1sh continued to stare at her. “What’s an aunt?”

“Oh!” Callie jumped in, hugging dedf1sh from behind and resting her head on her shoulder. “Ok so Ded here is still learning surface stuff. Basically an aunt is, when your mom has a sister, you call them your aunt. And since we’re dating you’d technically also count as that.” The other girl’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Oh, in that case sure!” The anxiety the agent was previously feeling was beginning to ease. Callie watched the two, a huge grin stuck to her face. “You guys wanna go out to eat? It’s nearly lunch!”

“I could eat.” Marie chimed in, putting her phone away and standing up. “I’ll go put my sneakers on!!” Four called as she raced down the hallway to the closet. Dedf1sh looked at Callie again before quietly chuckling. “She’s… something. It’s Interesting.” Callie nodded. “She can be energetic once she gets more used to you, be prepared.” Not long after four ran back with new shoes on, Mr wiggles now wearing a tiny purple jacket. Marie also had thrown a jacket on. “Ok, Squidbeak Splatoon roll out!” Callie yelled dramatically, running out the door and dragging the octoling with her. Marie offered her hand to Four and the inkling took it, the two following them out.

The group decided to check out a new restaurant that had recently opened. Dedf1sh kept asking questions about the different shops, and every time Four would quickly answer. Eventually they made it, getting a table outside. Callie lost the Rock Paper Scissors battle to see who would order, and Marie decided to go with her anyway. “What do you want four?”

“Can you see if they have chicken tenders?”

“Chocolate milk too?”

“Mhm!”

“On it.”

Once the octo said her own order, Callie collected their menus and the two cousins walked inside the building. With Four alone with Dedf1sh she felt all her earlier questions rising back up. Silently working up the confidence, she tapped her shoulder. “Hey, aunt ded?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it ok if I ask you a few questions? You can let me know if I say one you don’t like.”

She stared at her for a bit before nodding. “I don’t see why not.”

The inkling rested her elbows on the table, propping her head up with her hands. “Is your name actually dedf1sh?” 

Ded shook her head. “Hehe, no. I don’t remember my real name. Dedf1sh was the name I was given from the place I was found.” Four tilted her head like a puppy in confusion. “Where were you found?”

“Did Callie not mention I'm from the deep sea metro?”

The agent shook her head. “Isn’t that where agent 8 was found too?” Ded smiled and nodded. “Mhm. She’s the one who found me when they went back down there to be sure the place was truly abandoned.”

“Okkk.. starting to piece things together. Also how come your skin is green?”

The DJ stared at her for such a long time that Four quickly jumped to her own conclusions as she quickly avoided the other’s gaze. “I’m sorry, is that a sensitive question? F-Forget I said anyth-“

“Did they really not tell you anything about the metro?”

Slowly she met the octoling’s eyes again, and once she saw they weren’t angry she allowed herself to relax. “No, not really. I just know Agent 8 was down there and it’s a metro station? I’m not close enough to off the hook to ask them about it and Mom doesn’t invite me to the meetings discussing the place.”

“But aren’t you an agent of the squidbeak splatoon? Shouldn’t they be telling you about these things?” 

Four felt uneasy hearing that. “Well it’s not like I was involved like Three and Eight. My missions never involved it so I can guess that’s why there isn’t a need to tell me.”

Dedf1sh stared at the door where the squid sisters went to order, then back at four, running a hand through her tentacles. “I’m gonna tell you and try and simplify it, ok?”

The squid sat up straight, nodding.

“..The deep sea metro is a station connected to Kamabo Co, a research facility. I don’t think we know yet what they used to do, but they got hijacked by an AI called commander Tartar who was hijacking people’s minds with a special sanitization ink and killing the octolings trying to make it to the surface to make more. Eight apparently stopped him and I was only saved because my sanitization wasn’t complete.”

This time it was agent 4’s turn to stare, not speaking for a good bit as she processed the information. Eventually she spoke up. 

“..does that mean the thing tried to kill Eight?”

The DJ sighed. “Yeah. According to pearl and marina your friend agent 3 saved her in time.”

“How long were you down there?”

“A long, long time. I don’t remember exactly. I can’t remember a lot of things.”

“I’m sorry that happened.”

Dedf1sh shook her head and smiled. “It’s in the past and I’m working hard to get over it. I’m here now, with you and Callie and all the others. I appreciate that though.”

“Sorry we took so long!!! They didn’t have chocolate milk and I made them check the back and they managed to find some!” Callie exclaimed as she suddenly slammed a tray of food on the table, Marie more calmly placing the other trays down. The cuttlefish took their seats, Four digging into her food as she reached for the ketchup packets in the center of the table. “So what were you two up too?” Marie questioned. Dedf1sh opened her mouth to respond but four cut her off. “I was telling aunt Ded about the new squid beatz 2 music that got added. Some sound like octarian music so I was just curious if she recognized it but I’m bad at recreating the tune.”

The octo stared at her and the squid only winked. She liked to consider herself the CEO of excuses. Marie took the bait and nodded. “We could stop by and check ourselves later.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

“Four quit talking with food in your mouth”

“Sorrryyyyyy”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And dedf1sh joins the party! We got some ship hints, some bonding, and four lying to Marie is totally not gonna come back to bite her


	4. Mom come pick me up I’m scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four gets invited to a party and quickly realizes it’s not her thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title totally isn’t based off the Patrick meme

“30 seconds remaining!”

Now or never blasting in the background only made agent 4 pick up the pace, Splat brella open as she managed to hit another opponent. The squid had been turfing all day, pretty close to leveling up at this point. Her notebooks of tips she’d pick up in octo canyon was ingrained into her mind by now, so when someone behind her with a charger attempted to take aim and fire it was instinct to pick up on the firing noise and jump away just in time, before opening the brella up to protect her as she painted the wall they stood on, managing to swim up and chase them down before they could get away. Recharging her ink Four threw a sprinkler behind her to cover up an area she neglected to cover, before hopping off and continuing her path.

“5!”

She was getting closer to their spawn, a dangerous move to make since she was alone, but Four lived for the risks.

“4!”

“Hehe that’s my name.” She thought to herself with a smile as she chucked a second sprinkler onto a wall. Moray Towers was honestly super fun to dot sprinklers around to annoy the other team.

“3!”

“Hehe that’s my friend’s name.” She thought again as she managed to climb up the side to dodge an incoming teammate. She wasn’t quick enough however and she could feel their ink hitting her squid form.

“2!”

Four was a very petty player. She wasn’t gonna let this guy get the honor of gaining a kill in the last second.

“1!” 

Four shifted out of squid form and hopped off the side of the tower, doing a peace sign before the air pressure splatted her.

“Game!”

The moment she respawned the agent made her way towards the Judds, staring at the map with a goofy grin as Judd held up a purple flag, signifying her team of rando’s won. Four pumped a fist into the air in excitement. Turf wars always brought out a new side of her. She felt like she could be more confident on the battlefield, In a place where she finally knew what she was doing and very-much-most-likely wouldn’t ever see these strangers again after today.

Collecting her earnings from the cats, she was about to return to the lobby when

“Hey! TurfMaster420!”

Being called by her lobby name the inkling turned around to see the team she fought against running towards her, ink still colored orange from the fight. A boy with the slick style (she had a feeling he was the leader) stepped in front of them. “You got a name?”

“Uh” the previous energy was slowly slipping away. Quickly she tried to change the topic. “You need something? The next match starts soon and I plan on going.”

“Oh, sorry, this’ll be quick.” He cleared his throat. “You are seriously really good out there. This was the first match all day today our team lost and we all agree it was because of your fresh skills. I’m throwing a party later tonight at my place with a bunch of turf teams and it’d be cool if you could come! I can give you the address.”

Four stood frozen, debating in her mind. Parties were NOT her thing. At all. Not by a long shot.

On the other hand she was actually.. being appreciated for her skills. Something only the splatoon had ever done. It was nice. 

“Um.. Why don’t you give me the address and I’ll think about it?”

“Sounds good to me!”

Swapping numbers, the inkling texted her the address, waving goodbye as they walked away. Four sighed, staring at her squid phone. The next match already started and there was no way she would be able to properly concentrate during one anyway. Deciding to take a break for the day, Four decided to head to the shoal.

However once seeing the place was extremely full today she decided to just head home- “no, the squid sister’s home” she internally corrected herself. Callie had gotten her most of her favorite games from that place anyway.

Once she arrived at the apartment she was greeted by Marie, who she quickly ran towards and threw into a hug.

“Mommm I need some advice.”

Marie tousled her tentacles and nodded. “What’s up kiddo?

Four closed her eyes and leaned more into the hug as she spoke, it felt nice. “Some team thought I was really good at Turf today and invited me to a party tonight.”

She opened her eyes to look up at the cuttlefish to see a look of confusion on her face. “I thought you hated parties? Don't they make you super anxious?”

The squid nodded and let go, switching to pacing around the room. “They do but like, they invited me because they thought I did super good! People think I’m good at something and what if more people think I’m good at things if I go there!”

Marie sat on the couch armrest and watched the squid kid pace, sighing. “Agent 4 Trust me when I say that popularity doesn’t matter. You don’t need to go to some party to prove you got mad skills.”

‘Easy for you to say. You’re an ex pop star and live with your cousin, you already know what it’s like to have people love you’ The agent silently thought, a bit bitterly. But not once did the thought cross their mind to say it aloud. “It’s just..”

For a brief moment she considered opening up for once. Explaining the things she kept bottled up and why this could mean so much to her.

But the ideas of every negative outcome came back and Four sighed. “I just think it’d be cool, and maybe I should go. But you have better experience in this stuff then I do.”

Marie stared at her, leaning her head against her hand. “Four, if you wanna go nobody’s stopping you.”

She didn’t want to force herself to think on it any longer. “Maybe I’ll give it a try.”

“I’m proud of you for stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new.” The other cephalopod stood up, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Did they say what time it starts?”

Four pulled out her phone and checked her texts. Next to the address in parenthesis said 6:30 pm. Staring at the clock on the wall it was nearly 5. “We got an hour and a half basically.”

“Perfect. I’ll help you get an outfit together.”

The rest of the time seemed to fly by quickly. Marie let four borrow an old but nice shirt from her wardrobe, and even let her borrow her agent 2 cap. It wasn’t long before it was time.

“Don’t let anyone hold your drink, you guard that shiiiistuff with your life. Don’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable, don’t give into peer pressure, do not give personal info to anyone there, and if you feel unsafe or uncomfortable or just need to come back, text me immediately I’ll have my phone off silent all night for you.”

“I promise I promise I’ll do all that stuff, I gotta go I’ll be late!”

Marie gave her one last hug before the agent ran off, following her phone’s GPS to get to the house. After about 10 minutes of walking, the sun almost completely set, she made it, the lights from inside and pretty loud music blaring being a pretty sure sign to Four it was the right house. Knocking on the door, she stood there waiting for someone to answer. Her mind was wandering and already her nervous thoughts were getting to her.

‘They aren’t gonna answer the door. It’s a prank you aren’t actually invited. You aren’t gonna have fun just go home just go home go home go home go home go home go ho’

“TurfMaster420!! You made it!”

The sound of the door swinging open snapped her out of her thoughts, and the sight of the inkling from today’s match made her internally sigh in relief. His ink, no longer orange, was now a neon green. “Y-Yeah, haha, decided it might be fun.” He nodded, grinning. “Come inside! We got snacks, my phone’s connected to some speakers and were blasting Chirpy Chips, and we got punch!” Without waiting for an answer he grabbed her arm and dragged her inside. She visibly tensed at the motion but didn’t say anything, waiting for him to let go. He did once they were inside, and her eyes had to adjust to the bright colors and the loud noises. The inkling boy brought her over to some other inklings and one octoling, all seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. 

“Hey guys! This is the one who basically 1v4’d my team today.” He introduced. They all looked up and she felt a bit uneasy with their eyes on her. “Neat.” The octo said. They had their tentacles in a ponytail. “You play league?”

She’d never played league once in her life. It intimidated her beyond end. “Once or twice.”

“Nice. We should team up sometime.”

“Selfie!!” One of the inkling’s suddenly shouted, throwing themselves against the side of her and holding up her phone. Four flinched as the flash went off, holding her hands in front of her face. “I’m gonna get some snacks, I’ll talk to you guys more later!” She hurriedly said, and without waiting for a response she booked it to the snack table.

Leaning against it she grabbed a few chips from a bowl and crunched them in her hands, not actually hungry. There was a clearly older inkling girl next to her, sipping something straight out of a bottle. 

‘I’m supposed to talk to people right?’

Four opened her mouth to try and say something, but she came up blank, unable to think of anything or work up the courage to try. This resulted in just an odd noise resembling a squeak coming out, and she quickly covered her mouth with both her hands, eyes wide as the older inkling girl gave her a strange look. Walking away again Four sat against a wall, sighing. Chirpy Chips wasn't even playing anymore, somebody must have hijacked the speakers because now some techno music from a band she’d never heard of was blasting far too loud for her liking. Ears flattening against her head, in an attempt to stay calm and tune the world out the agent pulled out her phone and began playing a game she’d downloaded not too long ago. She wasn’t keeping track of time and had no idea how long she’d been there by now when a voice distracted her.

“Hey.”

She looked up to see an inkling with long tentacles and some sunglasses. She just stared at them with a curious look. 

“What’s your rainmaker rank?”

Ah shoot she was terrible at rainmaker.

“C+” she murmured. The inkling just stared at her and walked away. Four went back to her game but eventually did look up, only to see a group of inkling’s including sunglasses mumbling to themselves while occasionally looking her way.

She couldn’t take it anymore. Getting up she ran towards the bathroom, seeing it was unlocked she opened it, slammed the door shut and locked it, and sat on the carpet and hugged her knees.

‘Can’t do this it’s too overwhelming’

Pulling out her phone Four texted Marie.

> can you come pick me up I’ll send the address again   
> when you arrive make it sound like an emergency or smthn happened I feel horrible leaving early 

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the peace until her phone buzzed.

Omw. 1: how dramatic can I make it and 2: Are you ok? <

> go as far as you want. And yeah just overwhelmed. I thought I could do it but I can’t I’m sorry

There’s nothing to be sorry about parties aren’t for everyone and you gave it your best shot. I’ll be there in 5 minutes <

Smiling softly at Marie’s words four slowly exited the bathroom, retreating back to her wall and keeping her eyes glued to the door. True to her word 5 minutes later the door was answered by the inkling boy who invited her to reveal Marie. Quickly she ran over. Agent 4 was not a good actor but oh boy was she willing to do better than ever right now.

“What are you doing here is everything ok?”

Marie shook her head, the look of panic on her face almost convincing to her. “Your aunt exploded the microwave again but like, completely this time. There was a fire things are damaged your aunt nearly got her hand blown off AGAIN we need to go home. Also we need a new kitchen.” Four nodded, giving a genuine apologetic look to the inkling boy. “I’m really sorry but I gotta-“

“It’s ok don’t worry! Hope you had fun, go deal with the emergency.”

“Thank you.” And with that she was out the door running behind Marie. Once they were in the car the agent took a moment to take some deep breaths, steadying herself. “...That was the fake emergency right? Or did Callie actually blow up the microwave.”

“Has she in the past? Yes. Is this one of those instances? No I made it up.” The cuttlefish looked next to her. “You positive you’re ok?”

Four sighed and nodded. “Yeah. I just, didn’t expect things to go like that. It was a bit much.”

“Listen, every teenage party is like that trust me. Movie’s sugarcoat them by a lot. I was not prepared for my first one.”

The squid leaned against Marie’s shoulder, closing her eyes. “Thanks mom.”

“No problem Four. When we get home you wanna put on the tv and just relax for a bit? Callie should be home in 2 hours.”

“Sounds nice.” She could already feel herself drifting in and out of consciousness, overall exhausted for today. Four fell asleep in the car with a soft smile on her face, content to know she’d get woken up back at her home, the squid sister’s place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! I have a tumblr now! It’s honeyrocket! I’ll be posting story updates there, reblogging stuff, and if you guys want even chatting with y’all through asks! Feel free to give it a follow!


	5. Sn0w Dayz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four experiences her first time seeing snow with the Squid Sisters, and Callie is determined to make sure they have a great time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Totally didn’t make this cus I’m salty it hasn’t snowed where I live

When Marie woke up with the apartment feeling colder than usual, less light shining through the window, Callie screaming in excitement way too early in the morning, she knew it could only be one thing.

It had snowed overnight.

The cuttlefish would have loved to go back to sleep and attempt to get warm by wrapping herself in a bunch of blankets, but her older cousin wouldn’t allow that and she was aware, as Callie ran into her room, hopped on top of the bed, and ripped the blankets off of her.

“MARMARMARMARMARMARMAR IT SNOWED LAST NIGHT”

Slowly opening her eyes again Marie stared at Callie, then at the window where snow was still falling, then back at her cousin. “You don’t say cal?”

(Reluctantly) Getting up and getting dressed into a sweater and some long pants, exiting the room was when Marie remembered that agent 4 had spent the night, the smaller squid seemingly unbothered by Callie’s yelling as she stayed sound asleep on the couch.

Walking closer to her the cuttlefish gently shook her. “Four, get up kiddo it snowed last night.”

Slowly her eyes came open, Agent 4 sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of them. “Snow..?” She murmured tiredly. Marie nodded, smiling slightly. “Yeah. C’mere.” 

Offering her hand, Four took it and let Marie guide her to the window of their apartment’s living room. The agent seemed wide awake now as she stared outside with wide eyes. “Whoa. It never snowed where I used to live, I’ve only seen it on TV.”

“Where’d you used to live?” Callie chimed in.

“CoralStick bay.”

Marie went silent, as she didn’t expect her to actually answer. ‘CoralStick bay? That’s extremely far from here, farther than Calamari county. How’d she get from there to here by herself??’ 

Lost in thought, it took her a moment to register Four tugging on her sleeve. “Can I go out into the snow with cal?”

“Huh? Oh, Yeah, let’s all go out, I’ll show you how to make a snowman.” Callie gasped, running into her room. “ILL GET THE SLED!! WE CAN VISIT MOUNT NANTA-“

“We are NOT sledding on mount nantai again callie!” Marie quickly called back. The thing was way too tall and last time she was convinced into doing it they probably most definitely would have broken a bone if they had any.

Once the three were bundled up in warmer clothes, Four borrowing a jacket from Callie, they all walked outside, Marie shivering at the drop in temperature. She looked down at the golden inkling, who was nervously treading through the snow, scrunching up her face every time a snowflake landed on her nose. “Pffft. Four it’s just frozen water it’s not gonna hurt you.”

“But it’s weirdddd.” She complained. “It feels all weird and it’s all cold and mushy.”

Marie’s thoughts drifted to the Snowman vs Sandcastle splatfest, and now that she knew Four came from CoralStick Bay, and so far didn’t seem to be a fan of this weather, she smirked knowing that the agent would probably have been on her side with team Sand Castle.

Once again she was brought out of her thoughts, this time with a cold splat against her face. She turned to see Callie, giggling to herself as she made a second snowball. “Like that! It’s called a snowball fight! Here, you try!” The older cuttlefish handed the snow ball to Four, who looked at it, looked at Marie, then quickly stepped aside as Marie chucked a snowball right back at Callie, managing to hit her dead center in the face. Four placed her gloved hands over her mouth in an attempt to hold in her laughter, dropping her snowball. Callie grinned. “Oh it’s ON mar!!”

And thus the snowball war began, Four getting dragged in when she managed to hit Marie. The apartment’s yard had a good amount of trees and bushes, providing good temporary forts as the agents began taking the game rather seriously.

“Mariieeeeee, Agent Fourrrrr, where are you guys??” Callie called out, the snowfall getting heavier as she lost sight of where her friends went to hide. Walking under a snow covered tree to shelter from the weather. As she looked around, her pointed ears picked up on some rustling, and looking up her face went pale as she saw Agent 4 holding a branch up, sitting in the branches of the tree.

“AMBUSH!” She yelled out, letting go of the branch. Callie couldn’t run away in time as it collided with the snow covered branches, sending it all to blanket on top of Callie. Poking her head out of the snow the cuttlefish broke into a laughing fit, Four jumping off the tree and landing on the snow (and slightly Callie), joining in. “Victory!!”

“I guess we can say the kid won this one.” The two turned their heads to see Marie, arms crossed and covered in snow, seemingly to have met a similar fate to Callie. Four smirked. Callie raised her arms into the air. “Help me up I wanna make a snowman!!”

Four got up first, the squid shaking herself rapidly to get the snow off. Marie helped her cousin up, staring at the snow pile. “This is as good a place as any to try anyway, all this snow is here.” Callie was bouncing with energy, beginning to roll some of it into a snowball. “Ok Four, so, first we gotta make this snowball suuuuuuuper huge, and then we..”

It took a few hours, but finally they had made what was probably the biggest snowman Marie had ever seen in her life. “Whoa.”

“It’s missing something.” Callie murmured. Four had her thinking face on, eventually her eyes lit up. She took off her scarf, reaching up to attempt to put it around the snowman’s neck. Marie smiled, lifting her up to help her get the job done. The black and pink cuttlefish gasped. “It’s PERFECT!!!”

“Agreed. Best snowman yet.” As Marie went to let go of Four as she set her down, the agent clinged onto her arms, shivering. 

“Ya cold kid?”

“Mhm.”

Callie clapped her hands together. “Let’s go make some hot chocolate!! I have some old Squidmas movies we can watch!”

“Cal it’s nearly February.”

“So?? Everyday can be Squidmas with the right spirit!”

Four nestled more into Marie’s arms, smiling. “I’m with aunt cal on this.” She shook her head. “You two are silly.”

Callie stuck her tongue out. “You act like you don’t enjoy it”

Lifting up Four again, this time to carry her, Marie began leading the way inside. “Maybe I do.” She admitted. “Now let’s go warm up and watch some Squidmas movies.”

“Yayyyy!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bro I need a Nintendo direct sometime now I cannot handle this lack of splatoon content any longer ANYWAYS I have a Twitter now it’s also HoneyRocket
> 
> Also sorry this one was kinda short


	6. A change of scenery is always nice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marie discover’s agent 4 is having some rent issues, and offers a solution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes the title is a tomodachi life reference-

Ah, salmon run.

A… very very questionable business. With many questions surrounding it.

Like, who the heck is mister grizz? What are the eggs being used for? Why couldn’t mister grizz go get them himself? And how much influence did he have if he could easily get an add for the business on inkopolis news broadcast without attracting legal trouble?

All questions that Marie had to put aside for now as she, well, entered, said shady business. Gosh darn it she just wanted her solo career contract to end already. She regretted signing this new one a long time ago, ever since the incident with Callie disappearing. Sure it led her to meet agent 4 but those were dark times in her life she wished she could have avoided. And now they had some stupid Grizzco sponsor which forced her to head out with a camera attached to her hat to get some footage of her in action to promote the place.

With a heavy sigh, the cuttlefish approached the old bear radio. She pressed the bright red button next to it, waiting for the rough voice of the company’s boss to come through.

“You hear for that fancy recordin thing?”

“Yes. This is Mar-“

“I don’t give two flying fish sticks who ya are I just care that your manager is gonna make me richer than I already am! Bwahahahahaha!! Change into the gear and hop aboard the ship, there’s a crew of 3 waiting for ya. We got a newbie on board so hope that doesn’t mess stuff up.”

“I think I’ll be fine.” She wasn’t an agent of the new squidbeak splatoon for over 5 years now for nothing. Besides, she’d worked a few shifts in the past with off the hook. Nothing she couldn’t handle. A newbie would mean they wouldn’t have to deal with the professional stuff anyway.

Once she was in the rather hideous orange and blue work uniform, flotation ring strung around her back, camera ready, Marie made her way onto the ship, staring at the list of turf names of her coworkers taped to the wall.

— [TBB]Starly  
— HotSauce  
— TurfMaster420

‘Nothing special’ she thought to herself, looking over their ranks. The first two were professionals, TurfMaster being the apprentice.

It didn’t take long for the boats to dock. Marie never could remember the names of the salmonid islands, but she recognized this one for its three docks along the low tide shores. Grabbing one of the supplied weapons and a canned special, a squiffer and splashdown, from the boat, the cuttlefish super jumped to her team as the green in her gray tentacles faded to pink. Looking at what her team had to work with, it seemed Starly had a Luna blaster, HotSauce snagged an undercover splat brella, and TurfMaster was holding a trislosher in her hands. The girl looked awfully familiar, but Marie didn’t know anyone who wore glasses, so she brushed the feeling off as the egg basket popped up, horns blaring.

The first boss salmonid was a steelhead, something thankfully well suited for her Squiffer. She managed to take it out in one well aimed snipe, the others rushing to grab the eggs, TurfMaster glancing at her and giving her a thumbs up as the others shouted out booyah’s.

A hoard of chum was breaching the surface, Marie allowed the others to deal with them as she sniped any cohocks that tried to come the other’s way. One she missed however, and was about to swing and hit Starly, the inkling standing frozen as he yelled “this way!” TurfMaster was quick though, managing to shove him out of the way and take the frying Pan hit instead. Marie jumped down, quickly shooting a line of ink to swim through. Not a second later after she arrived she activated her splashdown, splatting all the surrounding salmon. Looking back to be sure her crew mate was ok, her eyes widened a bit.

TurfMaster’s glasses had fallen off in the rush, and she was scrambling to pick them up, breathing heavily, the cuttlefish catching a glance at her face in the process. It was agent 4.

She was about to say something when she remembered the camera on her head. Four had already swam away by now too, throwing a bomb to help with a scrapper boss. Marie decided to fight off the snatcher’s heading towards two abandoned eggs to give herself time to wonder.

‘Why is agent 4 here??? She told me she was going to go play games at the Shoal today?’’

‘Also she’s TERRIFIED of salmon run, why is she here willingly? Is she here willingly?’

‘Since when does she wear glasses?????’

The rest of the round she did her best to help agent 4 from the sidelines. The other two rounds went by fairly easily, and by the end of it the crew had a total of 45 eggs. The boat docked and the four cephalopods rushed to board. Marie took off her hat and turned off the camera before walking into the weapons room, putting her squiffer down as agent 4 hung up her tri slosher.

“Four. I know it’s you.”

The inkling froze, not turning around.

“Uhhhhh I’m not Four, who’s Four? That’s a silly name! I’m T-TurfMaster420!”

Marie crossed her arms. “Kid.”

At the sound of her stern tone, very slowly Agent 4 turned around, eyes glued to the ground, hands messing with the rubber of the suit. She sighed. “I’m not mad four I just wanna know what you’re doing here.”

She was still silent. Marie stood her ground however, and eventually the squid gave in, hesitantly meeting her gaze. Upon seeing she meant the truth- she really wasn’t mad, she mumbled an answer.

“Can we talk about this when we dock?”

Marie stared at her. From the sound of it the reasonings seemed serious, something she wasn’t expecting. “Oh. Ok, yeah sure.” Walking out together, it took a few minutes but eventually the ship ported back to grizzco. Walking out the four returned the costumes, agent 4 shoving her glasses into her pocket. The group parted as they exited the building. Marie took agent 4’s hand and held it tightly as they walked through the crowded square, well aware of how the inkling felt of the mass amount of people from the way she clinged to her and remained silent until they reached the less crowded streets, starting the walk towards the cuttlefish cousin’s apartment.

“So uh, the reason I was at grizzco..” her voice was quieter than she was used to. “I didn’t want to say anything, ‘cus you and Callie have been really nice to me already so far and I didn’t want you two to worry.”

Marie gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “But?”

“..but they raised the rent of the buildings in my area. It’s, it’s so much more than I could ever make from turf wars alone, and I got scared and I-I didn’t know what to do so-“ she sniffled. “I’ve been working G-Grizzco all day cus the bonus’s a-a-are a lot and, and” at this point Four’s eyes were glossy with tears, and she rubbed them as she stopped walking. Marie put her hands on her shoulders. “Hey hey it’s ok, take some deep breaths for me alright?” The golden squid did as told, body shaking slightly. Marie sighed, pulling her into a hug. “Four, you could have told us, we would have helped you. You’re a kid and I don’t care if inkopolis gives apartments to fourteen year olds, it’s still a stressful responsibility.”

Agent 4 hugged her tightly. “I.. I know. I just- I don’t know what to do, and y-you and Callie don’t need to worry about me all the time..”

Marie hugged her a little bit tighter before letting go, looking the squid in her hazel eyes. “Four. You’re my daughter. I’m gonna worry, no matter what. Now come on, we’re gonna solve this.”

The agent’s eyes shone at those words, forgetting to respond. That was the first time Marie verbally returned the feelings that ‘yes I too consider you family’. It made her want to cry again.

Realizing this, Marie was quick to change the subject, picking up the pace as they continued their walk. “Also hey since when do you wear glasses?”

“I kinda always have? I’m near sighted. Just hate wearing them.”

They paused again. Marie stared at her with wide eyes. “You mean to tell me that you were in octo canyon. With weapons like chargers. Fighting dangerous octarians that could have gotten you killed, half blind?!”

“Uhhh..” four tugged at the collar of her blue and white striped shirt. “Well when you put it like that-“

“Agent 4 you are to wear your glasses more. That’s an order as your mom and your mentor.”

The squid giggled and gave a mock solute. “Yes mam.” The two continued walking once again, seeing as Four’s mood had improved from before. The cuttlefish was deep in thought on how to solve the girl’s rent issue. Turf wars weren't making ends meet, and grizzco wouldn’t work with her fear of salmonids. Plus the kid was 14, so not old enough to get a decent job somewhere in inkopolis, and she was one to refuse money when offered it by Marie and her cousin.

Hmmm… this was a trickier situation than expected.

“How much longer till we get home my legs are tireddd” the agent complained.

That’s when a lightbulb went off inside Marie’s brain. She called the apartment home.

What if..

What if it actually DID become home.

“Four, I have an idea!” Glancing back at her the inkling looked very exhausted. She sighed, letting go of her hand and holding out her arms. “Turn squid. I’ll carry you and explain.” The girl grinned, shifting into a yellow inky squid and hopping into Marie’s arms. Four was shorter than the usual inkling, which made her squid form easier to carry since it was smaller than the norm. Once she was comfortable Marie continued walking. “So, you stay at my and Cal's apartment a lot. Heck, you even sleep there most of the time. What if you just moved in?”

After a moment or two, Four looked up at her, hazel eyes wide. “Woomy?”

“Shift out so you can talk, you’re light I can carry you.”

Coming out of squid form, Marie adjusted to holding to extra weight that came with it, carrying the girl bridal style. By now she could see the apartment in the distance. “I said, really?” The cuttlefish nodded. “Mhm. Why not?”

“Well.. I wouldn’t be any extra trouble?”

“Four, you are no trouble at all-“ she paused. “-Well that’s not true you start more kitchen fires than Callie.” They both laughed at that. “But this particular thing would be no trouble. Get those negative thoughts out of your head.” The yellow inkling gave a small smile, nodding. “I.. if you’re sure.. I trust you. I’ll move in with you and aunt cal.” Setting her down, Marie pulled her into a hug. “Thank you. Now, let’s go break the news to Callie. I’m positive she’ll be happy to hear this and be on board.” The agent grinned, suddenly pulling away and running. “Race you to the apartment!”

Marie was quick to follow behind her. “You’re on!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: we’ve reached 300 hits! Ty guys for the support on this fic so far, it means the world to me!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this one! Four’s now even more apart of the cuttlefish family lol
> 
> Comments are appreciated! They give me more motivation!


	7. Sick Beatz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agent 4 gets sick. Marie learns her daughter is a semi difficult patient.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while to be updated, the writing process was sorta like
> 
> Me: ok. I’ve been sick with a cold tons of times with my mom taking care of me. I should know how to write this  
> Also me: hey google what are common cold symptoms-

“C’mon c’mon we’re gonna be late!”

“You don’t even have a team, I don’t get the eagerness.”

“Whether you get it or not I don’t want to be late!”

A long, drawn out sigh was agent three’s response as agent four kept on running ahead. She had her usual gear of a blue and white striped shirt, red and white sneakers, and this time her glasses on. Three had on a red hoodie, studio headphones, and a pair of oyster clogs. “Last time I checked you were terrified of league.” The yellow green squid called out. Four stopped in her tracks. “I am! But you said you’d do it with me when it starts next week, so that makes me confident, cus you know how to use a charger, and I always die to chargers, so it’ll cancel out cus PEMDAS!” Four punctuated her sentence by waving her arms in the air. Three took advantage of her pausing to catch up to her. 

“Your logic makes no sense.”

‘Your face makes no sense’ is what she wanted to jokingly say, but she stared at the other’s teal scar over her right eye for a few seconds and decided against it. “Yes it does, and you find it hilarioussss and super smart and just don’t wanna say so!” The squid was messing around per usual, but three grabbed her hand and smiled down at her. “Yeah, sure. Now c’mon, they’ll close registration for next week in a few hours.” 

However four was frozen, staring down at her friend’s hand holding hers, her face warming up. Three followed her gaze, and began retracting her hand when the yellow squid suddenly held onto it tight. “You’re right, sorry, let’s go!” And like nothing had happened she began leading the way again, agent three shaking her head with a small smile as she followed behind.

~~~

The line for next week's league sign ups was rather large, and too slow for four’s liking as she paced in the limited space they had, three resorting to being on her phone. When the taller inkling looked up she saw her friend was chewing on a pen, and quickly lightly smacked her, four dropping the pen instantly while looking like a jellyfish caught in headlights. “Gross, stop always putting stuff in your mouth, you don’t know where that’s been!” Snapping out of it four only stuck her tongue out at her, three doing the same before returning to her phone.

Eventually it was their turn, Three doing most of the registration process for them, Four only having to show confirmation of her official rank, a B- in clam blitz she was rather proud of, and write down her email on a form they gave them. Once they were set up and good to go, the two walked towards the exit, four using both hands to push open the glass door only to be met with pouring rain. Three sharply inhaled, four groaning. “I’m gonna guess your backpack isn’t magic and you somehow didn’t fit an umbrella in there?” The yellow squid guessed, looking up at the other. 

“No but that would be pretty cool.” The yellow green inkling admitted, staring up at the growing storm before taking out her phone. “Seems our plans to go out and practice aren’t happening. I’m gonna see if I can get someone to pick me up.” 

Agent 4 silently considered doing the same, but then she remembered Callie and Marie would be out all day working on commercial junk. Without thinking, she stepped out into the rain, feeling the tingling sensation as the water hit her arms and tentacles. “Four the hell are you doing? Get inside before it starts to hurt.” The girl only looked back at her and grinned. “Bet I can get home before you!” With that she took off down the street running. Three stared after her. “YOU’RE CRAZY!” She yelled, then grumbling as she stepped out herself and pulled her jacket hood up, sprinting down the other end.

Once she got home four stumbled up the apartment stairs, fumbling to unlock the door. Her glasses were covered in rain droplets and she could barely see, her body ached from the water’s usual effect on inklings, and she was cold down to her nonexistent bones. Growing frustrated she took her glasses off and shoved them in her pocket, finally unlocking the door once her vision adjusted and stumbling into her home. By now it was pretty late, and four was utterly exhausted. Making her way to the couch, she flopped onto it, closing her eyes. ‘I’m gonna rest for a bit then get dried off and changed.’ She internally promised herself, and after a good 15 minutes she was fast asleep.

~~~

“Four c’mon, it’s- oh cod you’re awfully warm.”

Slowly stirring as she was nudged awake, the first thing four felt was downright miserable as she slowly turned to look at Marie. As her senses came to she realized her throat hurt, she had a slight headache, and everything felt too cold and too hot at the same time. Even rubbing the sleep out of her eyes was taking a lot more energy than she had out of her. Marie stared at her as she tried to sit up, only to gently push her back down. “Stay here, I’m getting a thermometer.”

Not having the strength to argue Four stayed put, closing her eyes again as she distantly heard the shufflings from a closet, and eventually the cuttlefish returned with a thermometer. She pressed it against her forehead for a few seconds, the device eventually making a beeping sound. Marie walked away, and the inkling heard Callie’s voice join the conversation.

“Is she ok?”

“Yeah. It’s nothing dangerous so no fever. I think she just has a cold.”

“Oh, ok, phew! Was worried, she normally doesn’t sleep in this late-“

“What time is it?” Four interrupted, her voice scratchy as she burst into a coughing fit. Marie got up again. “Nearly 2 pm kid. Hang on.” She opened her eyes and watched the cuttlefish enter her room, and then returned after a few minutes. “Your clothes are not gonna help you stay warmed up, so go get changed in my room. You’re sick four.”

Nodding and slowly rising up, the agent staggered to Marie’s room, noticing the oversized shirt and pants laid out on the bed. Changing into them, she exited the room and made her way back to the couch, ready to pass out as she collapsed back onto it. She didn’t even notice Callie walk up to her until the cuttlefish lightly tapped her, four’s eyes trailing to two cups on the table, a tiny one with a purple liquid, and a large one with what she assumed was water inside.

“We got you some medicine, Marie says you gotta take it.” Callie explained.

The agent stared at the liquids in disgust as she turned on her side away from Callie, burying her face into the couch. “Aw Four come on, pleaseee? Don’t make this difficult!” She only shook her head, holding onto herself tightly as she brought her knees to her chest. She could hear Callie get up and walk away, only to return with a second pair of footsteps.

“Four..”

Hearing Marie’s voice only made her squeeze her eyes shut as the other took a seat next to her. “Listen I know it tastes horrible, and it sucks, but ya gotta drink it if you wanna feel better.”

“..don’t wanna.” She eventually mumbled out. Marie sighed. “Why not?”

“Tastes yucky.”

“Here, sit up.” With the help of the cuttlefish, four was raised into a sitting position, refusing to look at the small cup of medicine. Marie had both her hands in her own. “It’ll help you feel better. If you don’t take it you could get even sicker, and then I think that’d be worse than taking some medicine.” Callie decided to chime in. “Look! I even got you a cup of water to wash it down!”

Agent 4 looked at the two cousins, then slowly the medicine, then the two again. “...fineee.”

Smiling, Marie went to get up, stopping as Four latched onto her hand. She got the message and sat back down, holding her hand as she lifted the medicine to her mouth, her face crinkling up at the smell. Callie took a seat on the other side of her. “I’ll count to 3, ok?”

The inkling nodded.

“1.. 2.. 3.”

In one swift motion she downed the purple liquid, eyes widening instantly as she reached for the water. Callie handed it to her and four began downing it as well. Marie quickly grabbed the cup. “Not so fast four you’re gonna make yourself sicker!”

Four coughed once she was done, eyes narrowed. “Why call it grape flavored if it tastes and smells nothing like grapes?” The girl grumbled, voice scratchy. Marie had to hold back a laugh, patting her back. “Well either way I’m proud of you. I’ll get a cartoon on the tv and you can try and get some rest. We’ll be here if you need us.” The squid groaned. “I’m not tired thoughhh.” Marie gave her a look that told her she knew otherwise. “Four you were out all day yesterday with Three. No getting up on my watch. Sleep.” Staring at her with her typical ‘I’m about to do the exact opposite of what you just said’ look, it slowly morphed into exhaustion and she gave in and nodded, laying back down and nestling into the blanket. “Can you go get Mr. wiggles?” She whispered. “Will do. Callie can you change the channel?” The gray and green cuttlefish asked, her cousin taking the remote and doing a mock salute. “Yes mam! Four I’m gonna show you the wonder that is Scooby Doo!”

Getting up, Marie went into her own room, grabbing the stuffed jellyfish off the ground. He got left there from when Four was dragging him around the house looking for her notebook. As she brought him back, she saw the sight of Callie humming the show’s theme song, four’s eyes nearly closed as she stared at the screen. Tossing the plushie, it landed next to the agent with a soft thump, four slowly grabbed him and moved him to be pressed against her chest as she hugged him tightly. Lingering for a few seconds longer, Marie decided to take a seat next to her cousin, joining in so the half asleep agent wouldn’t be alone if Callie decided to get up and do something else.

It didn’t take long for Four to fall asleep, Marie having to get up to place Mr. Wiggles back in four’s arms as he slowly slid off the couch. Tapping her also asleep cousin, who woke up with a jolt, Marie pointed to the kid, Callie smiling softly at her. “Oops. We forgot about dinner.” The other cuttlefish whispered. Marie sighed, getting up to grab her phone. “I’ll order a pizza.”

“What about Four?”

“Kid sleeps like a brick, doubt she’ll wake up anytime soon. I’ll save her a slice though.”

Callie stuck her tongue out, making a “blegh” noise. “Microwaved pizza sucks though!”

“You think that stops her? She ate an entire cold box I left out once! Also, no pizza for her tonight she needs to rest and not eat things that’ll hurt her throat.”

Callie grinned. “Got it. No pizza.”

Marie narrowed her eyes. “Callie I swear to-“

The other began nudging the sleeping agent. “Four wake up we’re getting pizza!”

“caLLIE SHE NEEDS TO-“

“Mmf. Pizza?”

She sighed. “Yes. Pizza. What toppings do you want.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re getting a nintendo direct tomorrow!! I’m super excited. Really hoping for something splatoon related lol
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed! Comments are appreciated and give me motivation
> 
> Edit: AYO WE HIT 400 HITS WHAT TY GUYS SO MUCH


	8. Coo(l)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four brings home a pigeon one day. Yep. Just- just an actual pigeon. Callie is impressed. Marie is not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe coo(l). Get it? Like- like coo, the sound pigeons make, but the L for cool- I’m not funny I’ll stop-

The sun was shining over the reef, reflecting in the bright pink and green ink spraying the battlefield.

“We have the tower!”

Agent 4 gave a sharp toothed grin as she managed to get them moving along the path, glancing up towards the bridge on the map to see Agent 3 keeping a watchful eye, E-Liter 4k aimed and ready incase anyone attempted to make a move to steal the tower back, which proved useful as the other agent managed to snipe a nearby green inkling as they readied a burst bomb.

Four had reached the final checkpoint by now, eagerly awaiting the horns to blast and announce the game had ended.

“Game!”

The inkling gasped, flopping around in squid form as she said multiple booyahs. Three took her by surprise as she suddenly popped out of the ink next to her, picking up the smaller pink squid before she could flop around more. “You did better that time. Let’s hope your first medal is a good one.” Three placed Four under her arm and the squid shifted back to an inkling, still being held like that. “Thanks! Think we’ll get gold?”

“Bronze at best.”

“Whatttttt that’s the lowest one though!”

“It’s actually decent enough for your first time playing league.”

“Pfft. Whatever.”

Three began walking off the stage, Four wiggling around. “Put me downnn”

“Nope”

Once they were off the stage three did place her down however. That was their final league battle for their sign up period. As predicted the two were awarded bronze medals, Four bouncing around eagerly as she held hers. “Ooo it’s shiny!” The other pink squid, her tentacles fading back to yellow green, raised an eyebrow at her. “Thought you didn’t want bronze?” “That was before I knew it was shiny!” Four exclaimed. The shorter girl’s eyes suddenly locked onto nearby movement, and as it came more into view she realized it was a pigeon. “Hey. Hey Three look.”

Following her gaze the two agents stared at the birds. “The pigeon? They're everywhere on this map.” The squid didn’t pay attention to her words, silently walking forwards until the pigeon spotted her, as she dived forwards and managed to wrap her arms around it, the bird unable to fly as it was now restrained. Standing up her eyes were wide with excitement as she looked over at her friend. Three stared at her. “...why though.”

“Why not?” The pigeon for whatever reason seemed rather calm in her grasp, the others in its flock flying away. Shoving her medal in her pocket, Three slowly held out a hand. “Want me to uh, walk you home? Might be hard to with a pigeon.”

“I get to keep it??”

“I am NOT the deciding factor in that.”

One arm linked around agent 4’s, both hands cupping the pigeon against her chest, the two began the journey back to Callie and Marie’s, the pair getting strange looks directed at the bird in her arms. Once finally arriving, three let go, waving goodbye with a small smile. Four smiled back and said her goodbyes. It was rare to see the other agent smile and she honestly wish she would do it more, stepping inside and going up the stairs and down the hall to their apartment room, four kicked open the door, not caring if it was locked or not. “I’m baaacckkk!!” She called out. Marie ran into the room, eyes wide but quickly relaxing when the cuttlefish realized the intruder was her daughter. However very quickly her focus was directed towards the girl’s arms.  
“Four?”

“Yeah?”

“Is that a pigeon?”

“Mhm!!”

Callie had walked into the room now, and her eyes widened. “WHOA A PIGEON!!” The cuttlefish jumped over the couch, nearly knocking it backwards as she moved to pet the bird. Marie just stared. “And you just.. brought it home.”

Four shrugged. “I’ve heard it’s legal.” Marie waved her arms in the air. “That’s not the point Four the point is you brought a bird into my house!” At the tone of her voice and the way four shrunk down a bit, her cheerful demeanor fading, Callie was quick to deescalate the situation. “Did you find this dude while playing today? He seems to like you!” Looking up the yellow and orange inkling stared at the other’s expression before slowly smiling. “Yeah, he was at The Reef! Once I grabbed him he kinda just settled.” Her eyes were sparkling. “Can we keep him??”

Callie gasped and looked to Marie, who shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. If you want a pet we can get one someday but not a bird right now.” 

“Aww why not?” Four questioned, disappointment clear in her voice. “Because where would we put it?” Marie answered. “Do you know how to care for it? Cus I don’t. This stuff takes research hun. We gotta go outside and let it go.” Staring at the bird, agent 4 let out a sigh. “..ok.” Callie went to put a hand on her shoulder. “Want us to come?” She moved away however, walking towards the door. “Nah it’s fine. Thanks though Cal.” Opening the door and exiting the apartment, Marie watched her go, her expression softening. “Was I being too stern?” Callie shrugged, walking to the kitchen. “Thinking about it rationally you’re right. We can’t keep it right now.” The cuttlefish turned around and pointed at her younger cousin. “Though you should probably apologize for yelling a bit when she comes back in.” 

Marie slumped onto the couch. “Ah jeez I didn’t mean to yell. I’ll give her time then apologize.”

“Hmmm.. you know, I think I know a good way to apologize.”

“Enlighten me.”

“Wellllll…”

Meanwhile, Agent 4, pigeon in her arms, had not released it. Instead she was walking, trying to remember the directions to the Houzuki manor from when she had visited agent 8 a few times. After nearly getting lost too many times, she eventually spotted the rather large building, picking up her pace despite the coos of complaints from her feathery friend. Reaching the gate, she pressed the doorbell button and waited. It didn’t take long for a voice to buzz in through a speaker underneath the button. “Hey! Whatever you’re selling we aren’t intereste-“ she recognized the voice as Pearl’s.

“It’s four. Uh, agent 4. I’m here to see Dedf1sh?”

“Oh! Come on in kid!” The metal gates swung open, and Four stepped inside, walking to the front doors and opening them. The place was a lot nicer than anywhere she’d ever been in her entire life. It still made her stop to look around at every detail every time she was here. A gasp broke her out of that habit, and she turned to see Pearl staring at her. “Whoa! That a pigeon? Didn’t know you have a cool new pet!” Four grinned. “Kinda why I’m here. Where’s Dedf1sh?”

“Upstairs in her room. Need me to lead ya there?”

With how maze like the house was, she knew she needed it. “Yes please.” Pearl nodded, leading the way and eyeing the bird. “Is that thing trained?”

“Probably!”

After a few twists and turns down different halls, the short Pygmy squid knocked on one of the doors, and opening it up was a familiar green octoling with blue purple and red tentacles. Only, her skin wasn’t all green anymore. A few patches of skin were turning brown, and some of her red freckles had lost coloring and were turning black. “Whoa.” Dedf1sh gasped, smiling. “Oh! Hello four, it’s so good to see you again!” Realizing why she was staring, the octoling chuckled. “We’ve been working on trying to get some regular ink in my system. It’s working, which is, a huge reliever. What brings you here?”

“Thanks Pearl” she whispered, entering her room as the other gave a thumbs up. It was filled with a lot of techy looking equipment she didn’t recognize, the walls being a darker blue covered in posters and framed pictures of dedf1sh with off the hook and agent 8, some others of her and Callie. “So, I got this pigeon here.” She held up the bird. “And I wanna keep it! But Marie said no and Callie I think also said no? Don’t remember. But since you’re dating Callie and that makes you my aunt that means you ALSO are the boss of me therefore can I keep the bird?” 

The octo stared at her for a good while, seemingly processing the words spoken to her. Eventually she spoke up, a light smile on her face. “Uh, Four, if they both said no I doubt they’d let you keep it there. And we can’t keep it here, I don’t know anything about animals? Neither does 8, and I doubt marina and pearl do either. I’d love to say yes but I don’t think now’s a good time  
For a bird. I’m sorry.” 

Groaning and giving in, four walked to the window in the room, opened it, and place the bird on the edge, watching it stretch before flying off. “Guess you’re right.” Dedf1sh patted the space on the bed next to her and the agent took a seat. “Is there any reason you really wanted that bird?” Her aunt asked. Four leaned against her shoulder and mumbled out her answer. “My parents never let me have any animals. I just thought it’d be cool.” Ded nodded, letting out a hum. “Well it’s not like you’ll never get one right? I’m sure if you worked it out with Cal and Marie they’d eventually find something that'd work.”

“Maybe.” From the tone of her response dedf1sh could still tell she was pretty bummed. Standing up, the octo walked to her desk, grabbing her laptop before sitting back next to four, the agent leaning her head against their shoulder again. Ded opened the computer. “I’ve been working on getting back into music, making stuff I enjoy. Do you wanna give them a listen?” The girl perked up a tad bit, nodding eagerly.

Hours went by until Four got a text from Marie asking where she was. The inkling was a tad bit confused why it took that long to notice, but also used to it as she explained to dedf1sh she had to go, letting the other walk her outside. “I had fun! You’re really good at music. See ya aunt ded!” The octoling grinned, waving. “Goodbye four! Glad you had fun!”

Finding her way home, the pigeon mostly forgotten, four entered the building and made her way up the steps and down the halls to the cuttlefish family’s apartment. Opening the door, Callie and Marie whipped their heads up from their spots on the couch. The agent gave them her signature sharp tooth smile. “Hey, was at aunt ded’s, sorry I should have told you.”

Callie waved it off. “It’s ok! Just tell us next time. Come here we have a surprise for you.” Curiosity gripping a hold of her, four sat down next to Marie, watching her mom smile at her and put her hand on a zipper of some sort of carrier. “Now, I know I said no pigeon, because we don’t know how to care for a bird. But, you wanna know what we do know how to care for?”

Her brain was already jumping to the best case scenarios. ‘They got me a pet, that’s gotta be it’ leg bouncing in excitement, Four shook her head no. The cuttlefish fully unzipped it, and out waddled a little White Sea Bunny, it’s ears and spyke looking fluff a very dark magenta color. She gasped, staring at it with wide eyes. “You’re kidding.” 

Callie threw her arms in the air. “Nope! No jokes! We felt bad because you obviously wanted a pet, and you’re such a good kid Four we decided to get you something that we know how to care for properly! She’s only a month old, I knew some people that raise them for a living, and..”

As Callie rambled on she glanced at Marie, whispering “can I hold them?”. When the other nodded four bent down and scooped up the sea bunny, the creature nestling into her arms. Four thought all her hearts would burst right then and there. This felt surreal, and she didn’t even realize she was crying till she heard the other two speak up.

“Awww, don’t cry Four it’s ok.” Marie bent down to wipe her tears away, and the girl started giggling. “It’s happy tears right? Not sad ones?” Callie questioned, moving to slowly pull four into a hug so as to not disturb the sea bunny in her arms. She snuggled into callie’s side, nodding.

“Happy tears, promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take it back I’m hilarious this chapter title is great


	9. The Experience that is Home Depot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang (plus agent 8) heads to Home Depot and overall, has a good time for a shopping trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m very sorry for not updating in a while. School has kept me busy and has been stressing me out and taking a toll on my mental health, so I’ve been trying to focus more on that. That being said I want to focus a bit more on my other fic, “what am I fighting four”  
> Before updating this again. That’s not to say this won’t get updates for a while! Just that they might come out slower. Hope you guys understand, and thanks for the support!! We’ve reached 700 hits already and are close to 800!!!

When Marie heard her phone ringing and saw the caller was Pearl, she held back a groan, settled for an eye roll, and answered.

“Evening Pearl.”

“Heya!! Listen can you give me a quick favor?”

Marie leaned against the wall. “Depends on the favor.”

“C’mon let’s not forget I kinda saved the world so you technically owe me like multiple favors for being alive.” So now she was pulling the whole “metro fiasco” card. “Four saved inkopolis before you and I hired four so technically it’s the other way around.”

The squid was quiet after that. “Touché. Listen, me and Mar-“

“Marina and I.” She corrected, smirking at the annoyed huff pearl gave. Teasing her best friend was fun. “MaRiNa AnD i, are heading out of town tonight. Our Manager got us a pretty big gig we can’t pass up but the problem is he says they won’t let us bring Eight.”

“What? How come?”

“I don’t know, some bullshit about how it’ll cause unnecessary drama since the public doesn’t know we have a daughter yet. It’s stupid but they’re dead set on it. My point is can she stay at your place till we get back? It’s not that I don’t trust her to be alone it’s just, sometimes she remembers stuff or gets flashbacks or thinks somethings there and I don’t want her to deal with th-“

“Pearl.” The cuttlefish quickly cut her rambling off. “I get it, don’t worry. She’s more than welcome to come over. We’re still redoing one of the spare rooms into a room for Four so she’ll have to bring some pillows and blankets to share the couch with her for now.”

“Sweet, thank Marie you’re the best. Eight’ll be over soon!” With that the other hung up. Marie glanced over to the old room they were getting ready for agent 4, the call being a reminder she needed to hurry up and finish it since four shouldn’t have to sleep on the couch forever. 

Walking into Callie’s room, Marie opened the door to see her cousin and daughter wrapped in blankets watching YouTube on Callie’s phone, Four’s pet sea bunny she had named Lemon curled up across from them. She raised an eyebrow. “Whatcha watching?”

“Minecraft”

“Minecraft”

“...ok, anyways, Eight’s gonna be staying here for a few days cus Off the Hook’s going out of town, Four are you fine with her sleeping on the couch with you?”

The squid looked up at her and nodded. “Yeah I can make it work, when is she coming over?”

“Today. Also we’re all gonna go run some errands when she gets here.”

This earned a whine from Callie. “But marieeee we’re binge watching this right now!” Four pulled out a puppy dog look and Marie had to look away to not give in. “Nope, you can’t win me over this time, we’ve been putting off getting stuff for Four’s room and we need to go ahead and get it done.” Her cousin sighed. “Fine, I don’t get why I have to come.”

“Because the last time I left you alone you-“

“-ran off and put the shades back on I get it, you tell me the same thing every time marie geez.” The yellow squid stayed silent at their banter. Marie only shrugged. “I say it because I’m right. I’ll let you know when she’s here.”

About 30 minutes later Eight was at the door, holding a bag packed with some things she decided to bring over. When Marie told the two others that the octoling was here, Four rushed out, giving a sharp toothed grin. “Eight!!!!” The other agent giggled. “Hello Four!”

“Callieeee we gotta go!” 

“I’m coming I’m coming” the older cuttlefish reluctantly exited her room, greeting agent 8 as Marie explained they were all going to go run errands and she had to come. Once everyone was ready to go the group of four exited the apartment, Callie calling shotgun as they got into Marie’s car.

The car ride was mostly silent, minus the songs on the radio. Four recognized the store they eventually pulled up to, the big sign reading “Home Depot”. She’d seen it once or twice across different turf maps that were deeper in the city, and to her knowledge it was a construction store. 

Inside the store agent 4 trailed behind the others, looking around the large building and everything on the shelves. Beeping came from a nearby aisle and the squid mimicked it with her own beeps. Her attention was snapped back when Marie handed Eight two cans, and then grabbed two more and gave them to Four. “Can you two hold onto these for me?”

“Sure!” “Yes mam!” Now armed with two cans Four began tapping them together, liking the sound they made. Curiously she read the label on them, seeing they were for filling in cracks in walls, before continuing to tap them, absentmindedly creating a beat. An idea grew in her head and she grinned, walking closer to Eight.

“Hey, Eight, listen to this” she tapped the cans together again, the octo staring at her in confusion. “I don’t get it?” “It’s the mii Channel theme! You don’t know it?” She was still getting used to the fact that her friend didn’t know a whole lot about surface culture. “No, I don’t, sorry.” Another idea came. “Ok how about this, you take your cans and make a song, I’ll try and guess which one it is. It has to be one we both know though.”

Eight stared at her, then her cans, then began tapping them together. Four for the life of her couldn’t guess. “I give up.” She sighed in defeat, Eight smiling. “It was entropical! Listen.” Tapping the cans together again this time the agent managed to make out the tune. “Ohhhhh I hear it now!”

“Four, Eight, come on!” The two realized once Marie had called out they had lagged behind. Running to catch up, Four smiled as she grabbed Marie’s hand. The cuttlefish sighed and smiled back. “Don’t want you getting lost. Also be careful with those if you drop them they explode.”

She was half tempted to slam it into the ground now, just to see if that was true. But she also didn’t want to risk it.

Letting go of Marie’s hand and drifting back to Eight, she began tapping her cans again. “Bonk. Bonk. Bonk. Bonk.”

Watching her, Eight lightly tapped her can against Four. “Bonk!” The squid grinned and tapped her back. “Bonk”

“Bonk!”

“Bonk”

“Bonk!”

“Bonk”

“Guys!”

“Coming!” The two ran to catch up again, Four smiling at Marie again. “Hi”

“Hello. What’s up”

“The sky” the agent answered, swinging her arms a bit. Marie sighed and smiled at her antics. Eight moved to walk on the other side of her. “But the ceiling is also up.” “I know, but so is the sky” Four countered. “Fair point!” With that the octo bonked the squid again with her can, and the two continued to keep up with the squid sisters while play fighting.

“Bonk!” She jumped as Callie suddenly joined in, tapping her with a box she had taken off the cart Marie was pushing. Recovering from the slight scare, Four closed her eyes and pretended to lean backwards, catching herself before she could fall. “Oh noooooo you got me, I am dead” she opened her eyes “and now I’m a ghost and I’m gonna haunt you oooOooOooooo!!” Eight giggled and ran towards Marie, Four chasing her, Callie following them and laughing along with the two. Marie turned to look at her cousin. “Cal they have lamps down that aisle, can you check them out while I continue down here?”

“Yeah sure!” The other saluted, Eight following her. “Can I come?” “I don’t see why not!”

Since Eight was heading with Callie, Four decided to stick with Marie, humming to herself as she helped push the shopping cart.

Eventually the two met up at the checkout counter, paying for everything as Eight told Four about how cool the lamps were. Walking out and loading everything into the back of the car, the group got buckled in and Marie began the drive home. Four took to looking out the window, perking up when the car took a turn towards a mcdonalds. Callie began cheering, Eight seemed confused and Four had to explain that they were getting fast food.

She stared at Eight after explaining, watching the octoling give her order to Marie. A certain thought wouldn’t leave her mind. Eight was learning so much because she lost her memories in the metro. So had Dedf1sh.

She wondered why. She wondered why she cared so much, after all she told Dedf1sh that she knew they didn’t tell her because it didn’t involve her, and she was ok with that.

So why did she want to know so badly? Four had a feeling that sooner than later, she was gonna make herself find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna add this chapter is based on when me and my family went to Home Depot and me and my sister messed around, this was pretty self indulgent lol
> 
> Also the ending of this chapter is leading up to what’s to come next chapter 👀
> 
> Comments are appreciated! They give me more motivation!


End file.
